When do you Book your FP?

[Frozen2014]

Hi,

Am wondering when you book your FP+ for...especially for the really populare ones like A&E, 7DMT, Peter Pan Flight Soarin, Toy Story Midway Mania, etc.

In my plan, I've put them at the start of the day, but when I look at some suggested touring plans, they will put them early afternoon.

And do you put them back to back or spead them out throughout the day?

e.g. At the moment, my MK plan is for

1. A&E at 9am
2. Peter Pan flight at 10am
3. Haunted House at 11am

 

[Robo]

Am wondering when you book your FP+ for...especially for the really populare ones like A&E, 7DMT, Peter Pan Flight Soarin, Toy Story Midway Mania, etc.

Many suggestions, more details and FP+ priorities found HERE.

 

[Frozen2014]

Many suggestions, more details and FP+ priorities found HERE.

Yes, I've seen the main page priority.

But my question is...from people on here....what time do you actually book (first thing vs afternoon)...and together or spread apart. Looking for people's actual strategy / plan and what works well.

 

[mwebb10]

And do you put them back to back or spread them out throughout the day?

I plan on picking all 3 of my daily FP+ selections prior to our "lunch break" in the very early afternoon. That will allow us to potentially choose a 4th FP while some decent attractions may be available. This is the ONLY reason I'm going to "group" my selections close together.

 

[Frozen2014]

Is it a bad idea to book them for first thing, say 9am or 10an...especially the really tough ones like A&E or Soarin?

 

[mesaboy2]

Is it a bad idea to book them for first thing, say 9am or 10an...especially the really tough ones like A&E or Soarin?

No. Lines for those two (and especially A&E) build very quickly so a FP first thing in the morning makes a certain amount of sense. Many other attractions it makes sense to wait until later in the day for FP since lines are typically longer then.

 

[Sleeping Becca]

My strategy is to book my 3 FP+ between the hours of 10am and 1pmish. That way I can still have the golden hour of 9-10 to hit something big and still have a chance to pick up a 4th or 5th decent FP+ for the afternoon/evening.

Is this doable?

 

[Robo]

My strategy is to book my 3 FP+ between the hours of 10am and 1pmish. That way I can still have the golden hour of 9-10 to hit something big and still have a chance to pick up a 4th or 5th decent FP+ for the afternoon/evening.

Is this doable?

Yes.

(Depending on the usual variables of when you book the FP+'s, the attractions wanted, and crowd-level.)

 

[Crl1817]

I have been thinking about this too. We are quite a ways out so I haven't come to any firm conclusions yet. But my current thinking is that for MK we will make rope drop (or first thing EMH) and ride popular rides standby (things like Soace Moutain) until the lines start to get long (figuring we can get in two, maybe three hours, of riding standby with not-too-bad of lines. Next I figure we ride unpopular or high capacity rides (or shows) for an hour or two. Then we break for a meal--we have ADRs at this point. Then we start using fast passes for ultra-popular attractions (SDMT, A& E, etc)--fingers crossed we can get those fastpasses. Then we revert to unpopular or high capacity attractions until we are ready to eat dinner at a counter service place and/or leave.

We are going at an extremely busy time of year plus we have a four year old which means we won't be staying for late nights at the park, so at this point I am thinking I'm going to write off the fourth fastpass. If we can get one, sure, great, but I'm not planning around that.

 

[ibela]

After an embarassing amount of hours reviewing, playing around with availability, and map studying and strategizing - here's what I came up with. I'm going in late August so won't be able to come back to confirm this worked but I'm analytical by profession (and nature) so fingers crossed. Note: I'm going during a historically slow time.

I'm not scheduling any FP before 10am, that's still a good time for standby lines at any time of year.

MK - Availability for additional FP in MK tends to be pretty good. Aside from the A&E, SDMT, parades, and some m&g. For that reason I'm planning my FP in the later morning hours and hoping for additional FP and minimal standby lines throughout the day. Regarding your MK selections, I would not use a FP for HM as part of my original 3. That's a must do for me but it's available throughout the day so you should be able to easily get it as a 4th if the standby line is long, although I like their queue. I also wouldn't hightail it out of Fantasy Land so early to get on HM @ 11 so even if you do want to reserve one for HM, make it for a little later in the day. Knock out Fantasy Land so you don't have to keep going back to it, circle your way around to each land. Make sure to review maps so you're comfortable with the layout of the rides and attractions you're interested in.

The other parks I'm spreading my FP out because of where I plan to be in which part of the day. Ex. Epcot, we're having lunch at Coral Reef so I figured we'll hit Soarin with FP, Nemo and Turtle Talk (standby) before lunch and before heading over to the world showcase where I'll use Maelstrom later in the day.

AK - spread out for the same reason as Epcot. Safari is best early in the morning but Kali River Rapids and EE are on the other side of the park so I'll make my way over there later.

HS - mostly together although between all the shows that have large capacity and the tiering, I can't even think of a 2nd non-tier 1 ride or attraction to FP. All the good stuff is tier 1.

Good luck!

IF I was going during a peak very busy time, I'd rope drop in the morning and use all my FP in the afternoon after lunch.

 

[Frozen2014]

My strategy is to book my 3 FP+ between the hours of 10am and 1pmish. That way I can still have the golden hour of 9-10 to hit something big and still have a chance to pick up a 4th or 5th decent FP+ for the afternoon/evening.

This is very helpful, and probably the way I've been doing the planning so far.

After an embarassing amount of hours reviewing, playing around with availability, and map studying and strategizing - here's what I came up with. I'm going in late August so won't be able to come back to confirm this worked but I'm analytical by profession (and nature) so fingers crossed. Note: I'm going during a historically slow time.

I'm not scheduling any FP before 10am, that's still a good time for standby lines at any time of year.

MK - Availability for additional FP in MK tends to be pretty good. Aside from the A&E, SDMT, parades, and some m&g. For that reason I'm planning my FP in the later morning hours and hoping for additional FP and minimal standby lines throughout the day. Regarding your MK selections, I would not use a FP for HM as part of my original 3. That's a must do for me but it's available throughout the day so you should be able to easily get it as a 4th if the standby line is long, although I like their queue. I also wouldn't hightail it out of Fantasy Land so early to get on HM @ 11 so even if you do want to reserve one for HM, make it for a little later in the day. Knock out Fantasy Land so you don't have to keep going back to it, circle your way around to each land. Make sure to review maps so you're comfortable with the layout of the rides and attractions you're interested in.

The other parks I'm spreading my FP out because of where I plan to be in which part of the day. Ex. Epcot, we're having lunch at Coral Reef so I figured we'll hit Soarin with FP, Nemo and Turtle Talk (standby) before lunch and before heading over to the world showcase where I'll use Maelstrom later in the day.

AK - spread out for the same reason as Epcot. Safari is best early in the morning but Kali River Rapids and EE are on the other side of the park so I'll make my way over there later.

HS - mostly together although between all the shows that have large capacity and the tiering, I can't even think of a 2nd non-tier 1 ride or attraction to FP. All the good stuff is tier 1.

Good luck!

IF I was going during a peak very busy time, I'd rope drop in the morning and use all my FP in the afternoon after lunch.

We're going third week in Oct, so not busiest time, but turns out, not sure low either. (Since booking, I have found out about US school breaks, which I didn't know about when selected the week)

I guess I should note that I selected Haunted Mansion for my DS and at the same time, would try for Enchanted Tales for my DD, with DH and myself going with each one. HM was marked as priority B and Enchanted Tales as A.
Also, we have 2 MK days so have split up the popular rides among them. But is the standby line late morning still ok (current estimated time we'd be there)?

Thanks for the advice about the map. I am using it to help plan rides side by side so we're not jumping from one end to the other.

 

[kmb584]

I book ours for 10a-1p and really like that time block. We're able to take advantage of the low crowds that RD affords and by the time we've used our last FP+ there's usually a decent selection of attractions/times to choose from for our 4th and on.